Non third generation partnership project (3GPP) radio access technology (RAT) deployments, such as wireless fidelity (Wi-Fi) or wireless local area networks (WLAN), are becoming very popular among 3GPP operators to offload traffic from their cellular networks. Interest is increasing with the proliferation of devices that have both Wi-Fi and 3GPP mobile broadband support.
Non-3GPP radio access technologies (RATs) based on, for example, Wi-Fi can be integrated into the mobile networks on different levels as described herein. However, given that RAN level mobility between 3GPP and non-3GPP RATs is not standardized, there are currently no proper means to ensure that the mobility does not actually deteriorate the performance. Existing mobility towards Wi-Fi is controlled by vendor specific user equipment (UE) implementations and a common basic principle is that “Wi-Fi is preferred” meaning that the UE will attempt to access and associate to a known Wi-Fi access point (AP) whenever it is detected and without taking into account the current service level in the current serving 3GPP access. This then may result in worse performance for the end user.